Breakdown of Эта книга читается легко и быстро.
Questions & Answers about Эта книга читается легко и быстро.
In Russian, demonstratives agree in gender with the noun they modify.
- книга is a feminine noun (ends in -а and is grammatically feminine).
- The feminine form of “this” is эта.
- это is the neuter form (used with neuter nouns like окно, место, etc.).
So you must say эта книга = “this book,” not это книга.
Эта книга is the grammatical subject of the sentence.
- Subject = what the sentence is about: книга.
- Verb = читается.
- There is no separate direct object here (no “someone reads something”).
- In Russian, the subject always stands in the nominative case, so we use книга, and the agreeing demonstrative эта.
The form эту книгу (accusative) would appear if the book were a direct object:
- Я читаю эту книгу. – “I’m reading this book.”
The verb читается is the 3rd person singular present tense, reflexive form of читать (“to read”).
Literally, it’s something like:
- “reads itself”
or - “is read”
In natural English, the best equivalent here is:
- “This book reads easily and quickly.”
So Эта книга читается легко и быстро = “This book reads easily and quickly / is easy and quick to read.”
Formally, читается is a reflexive verb (ending in -ся), but in this sentence it has a middle / passive-like meaning.
- Reflexive marker: читать → читаться (to be read, to read as…).
- Morphologically it’s 3rd person singular, present: он/она читается.
- Semantically here it’s not “the book reads itself,” but “the book is (in general) easy to read.”
This use of -ся is very common in Russian to describe how an object behaves or “feels” when used:
- Книга читается легко. – The book reads easily.
- Суп варится быстро. – The soup cooks quickly.
- Эта рубашка плохо гладится. – This shirt irons badly.
So you can think of it as a generic passive / middle voice, not a true reflexive action.
It describes a general characteristic of the book, not a specific ongoing action.
- Эта книга читается легко и быстро.
→ “This book is (in general) easy and quick to read.”
If you wanted to say that right now someone is reading it easily and quickly, you would normally use an active construction with an explicit subject and possibly an adverbial phrase of time:
- Я читаю эту книгу легко и быстро. – “I am reading this book easily and quickly.”
So: present tense here expresses a general property, not a specific moment.
Легко and быстро are adverbs, describing how the action is performed:
- читается как? – легко и быстро.
- how does it read? – easily and quickly.
Adjectives would be:
- лёгкая (fem. adj.) – “easy / light”
- быстрая (fem. adj.) – “fast / quick”
But adjectives describe nouns, not verbs. You could say:
- Это лёгкая и быстрая книга. – “This is an easy and fast book.” (a bit odd, but grammatically fine; you’d more likely specify to read: лёгкая для чтения).
In the original sentence, we are describing the process of reading (the verb), so we must use adverbs: легко, быстро.
The adverb легко comes from the adjective лёгкий (“easy; light (in weight)”).
- лёгкий (masc. adj.) → легко (adv.)
- spelling changes from ё to е, but pronunciation is related and the stress in легко́ is on the final -о.
Meaning:
- лёгкий текст – an easy text
- Текст читается легко. – The text reads easily.
So легко here means “easily,” describing the manner of reading.
Yes, Эту книгу легко и быстро читать is correct, but the structure and nuance are slightly different.
Эта книга читается легко и быстро.
- Subject: эта книга (nominative).
- Verb: читается (3rd person singular, reflexive).
- Very natural, neutral statement about the book’s property.
Эту книгу легко и быстро читать.
- эту книгу is in the accusative, functioning like an object.
- The core structure is impersonal: (X) легко и быстро читать.
- Literally: “To read this book is easy and quick.” / “It is easy and quick to read this book.”
Both mean essentially the same thing, but:
- читается-version sounds like “this book reads easily and quickly” – a very common way to describe how readable something is.
- читать-infinitive version focuses more explicitly on the action of reading that book (“to read it is easy and quick”).
In everyday speech, the читается version is probably more typical for book reviews or comments.
Yes, Russian allows flexible word order, and these variants are possible, though they can sound slightly different stylistically:
Эта книга читается легко и быстро.
- Neutral, most common word order.
Легко и быстро читается эта книга.
- Fronts легко и быстро, giving more emphasis to how it reads.
- Natural in speech, especially if you contrast it with another book.
Книга эта читается легко и быстро.
- More unusual, slightly poetic or emphatic; highlights книга эта as opposed to some other books.
All are grammatically correct; the main difference is nuance and emphasis, not meaning.
Читается is 3rd person singular, present tense of the reflexive verb читаться.
- Infinitive: читаться
- 3rd person singular: он/она/оно читается
In the sentence:
- Subject: эта книга (3rd person singular, feminine).
- Verb: читается (3rd person singular).
Russian normally omits subject pronouns when the subject is either:
- Clear from the verb ending, or
- Explicitly present as a noun (like эта книга here).
So you don’t say Она читается легко и быстро and Эта книга читается легко и быстро together; you choose one:
- Она читается легко и быстро. – “It reads easily and quickly.”
- Эта книга читается легко и быстро. – “This book reads easily and quickly.”
Both are fine; the pronoun is simply not needed when the noun is already there.